Pollution Threatens Poland

December 9, 1985|United Press International

WARSAW, POLAND — Poland suffers from the worst environmental pollution in the world and 12 million of its people live on the ``verge of ecological catastrophe,`` a Communist Party report contended Sunday.

``The threat to the environment in Poland is believed to be the greatest in the world,`` said the 350-page study, drafted by ecology experts of the Academy of Social Sciences at party headquarters.

Government spokesman Jerzy Urban has denied Poland`s environmental problems are worse than other European nations, but the report said ``society should be informed by the government of the true situation.``

Sounding a nationwide alarm, the government-commissioned report urged the allocation of more funds to combat pollution. It said Poland spends only about 1 percent of its income on the environment, while developing nations spend between 4 percent and 6 percent.

It said 27 of the country`s 49 regions with more than 12 million people -- one third of the population -- were on the ``verge of ecological catastrophe.``

Blaming ``mistakes in economic policies, absurdities and faults in the political system`` over the past 25 years, the report cited examples of negligence.

For example, the report said, only 364 of Poland`s 800 cities have sewage processing plants and the capital of Warsaw is not scheduled to get one until 1990.

Satellite photographs show the biggest clouds of smoke in Europe are over Poland, caused by big plants that turn off air cleaners to save power, the report said.

The water in more than 90 percent of the nation`s rivers is too polluted to drink, and 70 percent of the water in the country`s biggest river, the Vistula, is even too polluted for industry, the study said.